Despite the fact that there are several different tests which can be undertaken when you suspect the possible presence of prostate cancer, the only sure way to diagnose the disease is the prostate cancer biopsy. But exactly how efficient is the biopsy when it comes to confirming this condition?
In the United States alone annually there are approximately 1,000,000 prostate cancer biopsy procedures undertaken of which about 25 percent show the presence of prostate cancer. Of the remaining 75 percent of prostate biopsies however roughly 33 percent also show false negative results. This means that about 25 percent of all men being given prostate biopsies are being cleared by this test, notwithstanding the fact that they actually have prostate cancer.
On the face of it therefore it may appear that the prostate cancer biopsy is not a very satisfactory test but these results do not in fact show that there is anything wrong with the biopsy as a tool for identifying prostate cancer. But, what is does show is the need to detect those individuals who, despite returning a negative result, are nonetheless at considerable risk from prostate cancer and should therefore undergo a follow-up biopsy.
The problem is that until very recently there has been no simple way of identifying those patients who are at risk. However, a recent study of over 500 individuals being investigated for prostate cancer might now provide a solution.
All of the patients who took part in the study had already had a negative prostate biopsy result but researchers found that when they studied the men's PSA test results and adjusted these to take account of the size of the prostate gland they could identify those individuals who were likely to receive positive results on a follow-up biopsy.
The researchers also found that patients with a Gleeson score of 7 or higher were at an increased risk from life-threatening prostate cancer and were again more likely to receive a positive result from a further biopsy. The Gleeson score runs on a scale from 2 to 10 and the score is calculated from a microscopic investigation of prostate biopsy tissue. Low scores point to a cancer with a low risk of spread and a high score indicates a cancer which is much more likely to spread.
There are several different prostate biopsy procedures available today but possibly the most frequently performed procedure is known as the core needle biopsy. Here a number of very small tissue samples are removed from different sections of the prostrate gland using a biopsy gun which shoots a needle into the chosen area to remove the sample within just a fraction of a second. The samples collected are then sent for microscopic analysis to reveal whether cancer is present and, if it is, to ascertain exactly how much of the prostate gland is affected.
The prostate cancer biopsy is not a cheap procedure and is one which can also be relatively worrying for the patient. It is sometimes also a quite painful procedure which can involve bleeding and the risk of infection. For these reasons it is important to pinpoint those individuals for whom a second biopsy is wise and to reduce as far as we can the number of needless follow-up biopsies being carried out each year.
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